Left Behind
by it's-not-amoose323
Summary: Naruto confronts Sasuke at the Valley of the End. He knows how to remove the cursed seal from his friend, but the consequence may be somewhat...harsh. Some might even call it fatal.


Disclaimer: I in no way shape or form own Naruto…or anything except for my laptop. Such is the life of a college student whose only form of income is provided by a weekend job at a grocery store.

A/N: Okay, this is the first fics that I have bothered to actually type. If you like it that's great, if you think it sucks; just tell me why so as to reduce the amount of sucky material that I may put out in the future.

Naruto stared determinedly at the form before him. Sasuke. The boy he called rival, the utmost pain in his ass and, in those glorious moments when he was alone, his best friend. Currently, by a twist of fate brought about by the machinations of the Snake Sennin, Sasuke could not lay claim to any of those descriptions. The Sasuke he knew would never abandon their village or look at him such dead eyes. The Sasuke in front of him, the one with the whirling black curse marks sprawling across his pale skin and fleshy wings sprouting from his back, was not his Sasuke.

The thoughts of how Sasuke had been perverted from the ambitious boy he was to the monstrosity before him consumed Naruto, though not for long. He could not afford distractions, not when he had finally discovered his chance to save Sasuke. The seal, that cursed seal Orochimaru had inflicted on his friend was clouding Sasuke's mind, twisting his thoughts until he was subject to that bastard's every whim. It had to go…and Naruto knew just how to make that desire a reality.

Jiraiya had imparted the information to Naruto by accident during their brief stint of training. Apparently, if a seal is overwhelmed by chakra it will weaken and break. The only thing that had thus far prevented Sasuke's salvation was the enormous amount of chakra that was required to break a seal formed by a shinobi as powerful as a Sennin. Kakashi, no matter how much he wished to break the seal, simply did not have the chakra reserves to break a seal for by one of the legendary three. Naruto on the other hand, with his affliction he had more than enough chakra to overwhelm the seal. Bruised and bloody as he was by Sasuke's assaults, he still had the chakra to accomplish his task.

Naruto nudged the barest edge of the Kyuubi's violent red chakra and readied himself for what was to come. Sasuke and he had been fighting for what seemed to be hours, though he knew it to be far less due to the fast pace that the boys were used to. Both boys were in a familiar position, it was the one they reached every time a spar was about to end in a draw. It was also when they brought their strongest techniques into the battle. The situation could not have been more fortuitous for Naruto; his rasengan was the perfect tool to use in breaking Sasuke's cursed seal. He only needed to get close enough to Sasuke to use it. The Kyuubi's chakra began to bleed into Naruto, tainting his pure blue chakra with streaks of red.

"You're not going to give up, are you dobe?" Sasuke asked this in such a way that Naruto thought there could have been a hint of disbelief in his opponent's voice. Warped as Sasuke's mind was because of the seal he still should have known Naruto well enough to realize that Naruto was pig headed at the best of times and when that when a friend was in danger the blonde would go so far as to sell his own soul in order to protect his loved ones.

A trickle of blood that had steadily been dripping down Naruto's forehead was becoming dangerously close to his eye. Naruto let the silence between the two boys grow as he carefully wiped the thin stream of blood away, leaving a wide red streak in its place. A new drop had formed before he broke the silence.

"Bastard, you know me better than that. I'll break every bone in your body if that's what it takes to drag your prissy ass back to Konoha." He smirked at the faint amount of shock in Sasuke's eyes. "Besides, I promised Sakura I'd bring you back."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a long while and Naruto simply waited. He wondered what could possibly be going through the other boys head. Was a spark of his friend fighting through the fog of Sasuke's mind? Was it Sakura? The girl that was so precious to both of the boys, was it possible that she was once again bringing Sasuke back from the brink of insanity? Naruto let himself feel hope for a moment, but the feeling passed.

"Sakura? Feh, why would you promise anything to that weakling? If she wants me back so much, she should have come with you." Sasuke's acerbic words, though harsh towards the pink haired girl, were not meant for Sakura. His utter disregard for Sakura was intended to injure Naruto, the boy who cared for her so much. If Sasuke had insulted Naruto, the blonde would have taken it in stride. He was used to having insults and ill-will flung at him, but for Sakura to take any abuse, even when she was not present to receive it, seemed blasphemous. Sasuke had no right to belittle her when she loved him more than life itself.

"Bastard. How can you be such a bastard?!" Naruto growled from between clenched teeth. His chakra began to flare up and the red and blue energy began to crackle around his feet. He crushed it back down, driving it back so as to avoid waste.

Sasuke stared at him, his two tomoe swirling in his confusion. Red was slowly bleeding into Naruto's eyes, disrupting the sky blue he was so accustomed to. Sasuke wanted to know what it was that enraged Naruto to the point where his iris would transform from its natural hue.

"You call me a bastard as though it's something new dobe." He meant it to sound mocking, and to some it would have been. Naruto was different from the various other plebeians who claimed to know him. Naruto was able to read between the lines, to hear the unspoken question. Though it was a waste of breathe due to the state Sasuke was in, Naruto decided to answer.

"New? No, it's nothing new. But the level or your thick –headedness is just astounding!" Naruto's eyes were almost completely red and his stance was entirely predatorily in his rage. "You have people who love you! So many who only want you back because they genuinely care about you, whether you deserve it or not. How can you just throw that away?"

Naruto flung his words at Sasuke, hoping the truth of them would break through the fog of Sasuke's mind. His words were meant to strike with a precision that only comes from experience. The few loved ones that Naruto had, he would never disregard them the way Sasuke seemed to. Naruto knew that Sasuke was somewhat ignorant when it came to how people felt about him, but he hoped…he hoped that the knowledge of how much people seemed to love him would do something, anything to get him home. It seemed to work, or Naruto at least hoped his words were taking root as Sasuke's forehead creased and he pinched the bridge of his nose as though he were easing a migraine.

"How about this," Sasuke slowly said as he finally came to a decision. He slid into a familiar stance, one Naruto had seen many times before during their countless spars. "Let's stop chatting and finish this. Our best shots. You win, I go back to Konoha. I win…well; you won't really be in a position to care since you'll likely be dead."

Naruto was silent for a moment as he thought about Sasuke's proposition. 'Our best shots? This is perfect. He'll use his Chidori; he'll have to get close in order to hit me with his chidori and with him close I'll be able to remove the seal. Only…' Naruto stopped, he knew where his thoughts were about to turn. In order to remove the seal in lieu of attacking Sasuke he would have to drop his defenses. No matter. His mind was made up.

"So," Naruto smirked at Sasuke and began to direct his chakra. "You ready to get your pansy ass dragged back home?"

Sasuke said nothing as the chirping of a thousand birds filled the air. Naruto's chakra formed a swirling orb in the palm of his hand, but it was different this time. Instead of a light chakra it was tinged with red and began to slowly compress, becoming smaller and dense. If Sasuke noticed the difference he chose not to say anything. The sparks of electricity whose noises gave the deadly technique its name danced around his fingers as he curled them until his hand resembled a claw. Neither boy moved as the air became thick with tension. They stared at each other, waiting for the slightest change to occur and indicate the chaos that was to come. Finally, a bead of sweat formed at Naruto's temple. It slowly slid down his face and along his tensed jaw line, lingering for a precious few seconds before it disconnected and plummeted to the ground.

It was as if a starting gun had been shot. They flew at each other in a flurry of movements that were indiscernible to the eye of a common man. The end came almost immediately. Sasuke's chidori connected with Naruto's chest, tearing through muscle and splintering bone until his fingers erupted through Naruto's back in a spray of blood and gore. Naruto, despite the trauma of what had just been done, did not react save a grunt as the iron tang of blood filled his mouth and escaped his lips to drip down his chin.

He hurt, his torn nerve endings screamed and his lungs were in agony as they strained to take in oxygen despite the arm that had punctured one. Naruto could feel his heart pressing against Sasuke's arm as it beat rapid pulses, but he put his mind past the pain he was experiencing. Naruto clutched Sasuke's arm in a vice-grip, preventing the boy from moving even as his opponent tried to tug away, eyes wide in shock of what had happened. Naruto then slammed his altered Rasengan onto the seal.

Sasuke screamed as the red tinted chakra flooded his system and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. He could feel the seal eroding under the force of Naruto's chakra until the tainted black marks receded from his skin and Orochimaru's chakra was scoured from him until, for the first time in over a month, his mind was his own and all of the foreign chakra was gone. He fell, unable to support himself without the additional chakra provided by the seal and all but the barest minimum drained from his fight. Exhaustion set in and he slumped to his knees. His eyes slid closed and the last thing he saw before darkness swept over him was the relieved blue eyes of his friend.

Naruto did not have such an easy ending to the fight. He let go of the arm piercing his chest and it slid out with a sickening squelch as Sasuke fell to the ground. This time he cried out in pain, unable to contain the shriek that his abused lungs were barely able to force out. Naruto clutched at the hole in his chest as though the meager barrier created by his hand would stem the flow of blood that now rushed freely from the gaping wound. The Kyuubi's chakra attempted to flood his system and begin the healing that he desperately needed, but he quashed it down. He still had a task to complete and as much as he wanted to be healed, his chakra was needed elsewhere. He had to get Sasuke back to Konoha, back to their home. If he didn't, one of Orochimaru's many shinobi could easily steal Sasuke away. That was not something Naruto would allow to happen as long as he was still breathing.

Naruto kneeled by Sasuke. He had to resist the urge to lie next to his friend and join him in unconsciousness. He pulled Sasuke's arm over his shoulder and heaved Sasuke onto his back in a monumental effort so he could carry Sasuke. Naruto gritted his teeth when the pressure of Sasuke against his back aggravated his wound, his friend was stemming the flow of blood from that side, normally a good thing but the pulses of pain running through his spine diminished that one relief. Bright spots flooded his sight when he stood and he swayed on his feet as vertigo took hold of him. It passed, barely, and he trudged on, leaving a trail as blood ran down his chest before spattering on the ground.

Naruto's pace was slow, but it was all he could muster in his condition. He barely noticed the unnatural calm that had settled over the valley in the aftermath of his battle. All of the small noises, the rustles and chitterlings of the small animals that usually inhabited the area made, were absent. All that could be heard was the grind of dry dirt beneath Naruto's feet and his labored pants. Often he would gag as a mouthful of blood forced its way up his throat and the red that covered his face would be renewed. He pushed his discomfort aside as he struggled to bring his best friend, the one whom he loved as a brother, home.

He was nearing the place where he had left Lee and Kimimaro when he heard the rapid steps that could only come from a running shinobi. He sluggishly tensed, making himself ready to flee if those footsteps belonged to the enemy. He breathed a sigh of relief when the masked form of Kakashi was the one that appeared. The man swiftly approached, his one visible eye widened in shock, though whether it was shock over Naruto and Sasuke's condition or that Naruto actually succeeded in retrieving his runaway friend was not known.

"The seal is gone." Naruto rasped as Kakashi relieved him of his burden. He winced as the small amount of blood that had congealed between Sasuke's shirt and the edges of Naruto's wound pulled apart. Kakashi gently examined the blistered flesh that covered the area where the seal used to be. His smile was barely visible from underneath his mask as he gently cradled his prize student in his arms.

"Thank you." He murmured before turning to the medic that had accompanied him. The other man immediately began to fuss over the dark haired genin.

"Shit, he's covered in blood. We have to get him to the hospital." The man cursed as he sent a withering glare in Naruto's direction. 'How dare that demon injure the Uchiha heir?!' Kakashi looked down at the limp body in his arms, all of his thoughts revolved around his student. The man ushered Kakashi away, towards Konoha. Both men darted off, completely oblivious to the fact that none of the blood that so concerned them did not belong to the boy they were rushing to the hospital.

Naruto watched them, his vision going hazy as the two men ran away with Sasuke in their arms. He had a sad smile on his face as his knees finally buckled, no longer able to offer support. He felt his breathes coming slower, reflecting the feeble beats of his straining heart. He was limp, his body going to that hazy point beyond exhaustion, and all he could do was smile. He protected his loved one. He kept his promise and his friend was returning home where he belonged.

'I'm so glad.' He thought as the rest of his body fell to the ground. The grit of the coarse dirt dug into his cheek, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he began to gag on another mouthful of blood. He watched the red substance was soaked up by the dry earth around him through half lidded eyes. 'I'm so glad.' He thought once more as his eyes drifted shut and he grew still, a tiny smile frozen on his face.

A/N: Here's the deal folk, I have a second part planned to this fic, I just need one thing from you. The way the second part is planned out I can have a happy ending or a sad ending. This is not where I begin whoring myself out for reviews, I just want a little bit of input to help me make up my mind XD


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